AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Question
Your company uses Azure SQL Database and needs to archive data older than 7 years for compliance. The archived data must be stored in the most cost-effective manner, must be immutable, and must be deleted exactly after 10 years. What should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Azure Archive Storage's low cost with immutability, failing to realize that immutability requires a separate WORM policy, which Archive Storage does not inherently provide.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage and time-based retention policy
Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage and a time-based retention policy ensures that archived data cannot be modified or deleted until the specified retention period expires. This meets the compliance requirements for immutability and a 10-year deletion timeline, while blob storage tiers (e.g., cool or archive) can be used for cost-effective long-term storage.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Azure Archive Storage with lifecycle management to delete after 10 years
Why it's wrong here
Azure Archive Storage is a low-cost tier for infrequently accessed data, but it does not enforce write-once-read-many (WORM) immutability. Lifecycle management can automatically delete blobs after 10 years, but during the retention period authorized users can still overwrite, delete, or modify data, which fails compliance requirements for tamper-proof archival.
- ✓
Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage and time-based retention policy
Why this is correct
Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage enforces a write-once-read-many (WORM) policy that blocks any writes or deletes until the retention period expires. A time-based retention policy can be set to exactly 10 years, ensuring data cannot be altered or removed during that period and is automatically eligible for deletion only after the policy lapses, satisfying both archival and compliance needs.
- ✗
Azure SQL Database restore to a point in time with a retention period of 10 years
Why it's wrong here
Azure SQL Database point-in-time restore (PITR) relies on automated backups, but its configurable retention period is limited to a maximum of 35 days, depending on the service tier. Since 10 years far exceeds this boundary, you cannot use PITR to archive database state for a decade; the option is simply outside the documented feature limits.
- ✗
Azure SQL Database long-term retention (LTR) backups
Why it's wrong here
Azure SQL Database long-term retention (LTR) backups can keep full backups for up to 10 years, but they are not immutable—administrators or automated processes can still delete or alter them. Additionally, LTR does not guarantee automatic deletion at exactly 10 years, and without WORM protection it fails to meet strict regulatory or legal hold requirements.
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This AZ-305 question is part of Courseiva's 795-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-305 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-305 exam.